Blood pumps are known for the purpose of assisting the pumping function of a heart in a mammal.
In one particular form a class of pumps known as “ventricular assist devices” assist, by pumping, the action of the left ventricle of the heart.
Blood pumps suited for this task include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,797 (Watterson et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,208 (Kletschka).
At the present time such pumps are relatively expensive, partly due to current relatively low production runs and partly because of the relatively expensive materials which must be utilized for the task of pumping blood so as to maximize reliability of the pump and minimize the possibility of blood damage.
It has been observed that, in some patients, the “assist” function provided by a ventricular assist device permits the heart to recover function to the point where the ventricular assist device can be removed and the patient's own heart takes over full pumping function.
Unfortunately, to date, no way has been found to predict the likelihood of a temporary assist leading to satisfactory or sufficient recovery of heart pump function.
It is an object of the present invention, in at least preferred embodiments, to provide a cost effective regime for the use of blood pumps and which takes into account the abovementioned problems.